Between the Drinks and Subtle Things , the Holes in my Apologies
by TheKoganKid
Summary: Derek works at a frozen yogurt shop in Beacon Hills, which is funny to most people because he looks like he hates sweets, and now has a new regular with a huge sweet tooth and no attention span named Stiles. Each day he gets a different flavor of yogurt and a different topping to put on it and always shares it with Derek to get a second opinion. Sterek!


"Derek, you're on register duty for the next week."

"What." Peering around a rather large box filled to the brim with packaged gummy bears, Derek looked absolutely scandalized. "Laura, _why_?"

Laura rolled her eyes at her brother. "You need to have some sort of social contact, Derek- you're turning into an amoeba just sitting back here all day, taking inventory."

"But I like it back here," he insisted. "I'm not good at human interaction like you and Scott are."

Hefting a box full of chocolate chips, Laura gave Derek her best 'I'm the older, so I make the rules,' look before stating, "Scott is just an idiot," and going back out into the main room.

Derek watched her go with a pained expression, and as the door closed behind Laura, he face planted into a package of marshmallows and sighed.

_Fucking Laura and her fucking authority. _

_**xXxXxXx**_

It was only one in the afternoon and Derek was ready to choke someone out. The shop had been open for a scarce two hours, but more than fifty people had trickled in from the outside, looking for a way to beat the summer's humidity. Apparently, frozen yogurt was the way to go, and he wasn't sure what bothered him more- the fact that he had to face everyone or the fact that his "scary" face wasn't working like it usually did.

"That'll be ten thirty two." Derek told one guy, who was standing as close as humanly possible to his girlfriend without actually stepping on her, and he handed over a twenty without so much as glancing up from her. Derek felt like throwing up, _everywhere_, but then the two would have to go through the line again to get another order and anymore of them would probably cause Derek some permanent damage.

He all but shoved the other's change into his hand and rubbed his eyes tiredly as they walked away to go and canoodle in the back corner of the shop.

"Smile, Der," Laura reminded him as she swept by with a stack of cups. "You'll scare everyone away."

"That was my intention, Laura." he shouted after her, not caring that about ten pairs of eyes looked up at him. "But it doesn't seem to be working."

"Neither is your chocolate syrup pump." the girl standing in front of him said. She smiled up at him kindly, though, so Derek didn't completely snarl at her.

"Isaac, you're supposed to be managing the pumps, not Scott's sex drive." he called out.

Knocking over a crate, Isaac scurried out from behind the back room and with a mumbled apology and red ears to match his hair, he stumbled over to the syrup pump and began to tinker with it.

When Derek sighed, the girl giggled and paid for her frozen yogurt.

_**xXxXxXx**_

Derek was in the process of counting out how many sprinkles would fit on a quarter when the bell dinged above their shop, and he looked up to find a shock of bronze hair and tapping fingers going a million miles an hour against some guy's jeans.

Well, _super_- he was one of _those _customers, the kind who ate sugary treats even though it was really the most terrible idea in the entire goddamn universe.

But for whatever reason, mostly because Derek had been standing in front of a metal box for five hours with nothing to do, he watched curiously as the younger man picked up a medium sized cup and began roaming along the wall full of frozen yogurt flavors. There were about fifteen to chose from, and even Derek, who'd been working in the shop for three years now, hadn't tasted all of them.

_Live a little_, Laura had told him when he'd refused to try grape fruit frozen yogurt mixed with peanut butter chips, but Derek had retorted with his honest opinion of doubt that he _would _live after trying such a horrendous combination of flavors.

Finally, the teenager had decided on vanilla yogurt as a base and slunk over to the toppings bar to see what he could put on top of his rather bland choice in yogurt. It was like watching someone trying to pick out a single book to buy in the middle of their favorite book shop, and Derek almost found it painful to wait and see which one he would chose.

In the end, he decided on chunks of _Kit Kat_swith a small squirt of chocolate syrup, and then he was advancing towards Derek, who'd had the decency to look away and feign ignorance after he'd sprinkled the candy on his yogurt.

"Hiya," the boy gushed, putting his yogurt cup on the scale, and Derek almost let himself smile when looking up at the other's face. He was cute, with freckles popping up in the most random of places and his eyes smiling as much as his mouth.

"Hello." Derek replied politely, biting his lip to keep from saying something stupid, like _please make out with me in that very indiscreet corner, thank you so very much_. "That'll be four twenty four."

The kid pulled out a five and told him to keep the change with an aggravatingly adorable grin, before heading to a table and pulling his iPhone out to play on.

"You like him, don't you?" Isaac asked Derek, and all Derek wanted to do was smash his face into the register. Repeatedly.

"Go _away_, Isaac," Derek snapped. "Finish off that blowjob I know you were giving Scott earlier."

And when Isaac smirked and did exactly that, Derek blamed no one but himself.

He didn't even know the guy's name for god's sake.

_**xXxXxXx **_

It turned out that the guy's name was Stiles, and he liked frozen yogurt. Like, a lot.

He had come in the very next day, much to Derek's surprise and Isaac's amusement, and waved at Derek before plucking up another cup and studying the yogurt flavors. Completely and utterly shocked, Derek watched as he observed each flavor with careful consideration and weighed the options in his head, before swooping forwards and yanking on the chocolate yogurt lever.

"That kid's got quite the sweet tooth." Isaac murmured in his ear, also watching Stiles with a sort of morbid fascination.

Derek snorted softly. "Thanks, Isaac. Tell me something I don't know."

"My penis is longer than Scott's."

Cackling with delight, Isaac watched as Derek's face turned from interest to anguish and he ducked as the other threw a spoon at his head.

"Isaac, you little shit!" Derek roared after him, attracting the attention of the few customers in at the moment. A girl in the back laughed at them but Derek hardly heard her over the laughter of Stiles, who was standing in front of him with a look of amusement glittering in his eyes.

"I take it that your co-worker's a little, uh, _feisty_."

Derek groaned while massaging his eyes. "You have no idea."

Stiles chuckled and placed his cup onto the scale, hand digging into his pocket to fish out his wallet.

Punching in some numbers, Derek looked over Stiles' choice that day; it was chocolate yogurt with a rainbow of sprinkles and a few loose Maraschino cherries, and despite the fact that Derek had had some yogurt on his break, his mouth began watering at the sight of the treat.

"Four twenty four, again." Derek said distractedly, gazing over the frozen yogurt with hunger as he stuck a spoon into it.

He looked back up at Stiles, though, as the other boy picked his yogurt up from the scale.

"It's cute that you remember that that was my total from yesterday." Stiles chided, taking a bite.

Derek blushed wildly.

"Well, I mean- you know- you're hard to forget."

If possible, Stiles seemed to preen even more and all Derek wanted to do was melt into the floor of the frozen yogurt shop and never materialize again. Ever.

"Here-" was the only warning Derek got, before a spoon heaped up with yogurt, sprinkles and a single cherry slice was shoved into his mouth. He choked on it for a moment, before his tongue could work again and he managed to swallow down the chocolate flavored with sugar and cherry.

God, it was so delicious Derek almost _moaned_.

"It's not bad," was what he said out loud, trying with everything inside of him to put on a look of indifference.

Stiles wasn't fooled, and Derek could tell when his grin only widened.

_**xXxXxXx**_

Even Scott could tell that Derek liked Stiles, more so than Derek was willing to admit to himself. And Scott was a moron sometimes.

Stiles was in the corner of the shop, reading a book with his spoon hefting some yogurt into his mouth every once in awhile. He'd been in the shop everyday all week, and today it was raspberry ice cream with shavings of dark chocolate on top. It had made Derek want to crumble into a sugar coma but all he'd given Stiles was a meager thumbs up.

Derek was entranced by the sight of Stiles slowly eating his yogurt and reading his book intently, a small paperback whose spine was worn heavily, and Scott did a double take when he walked by and didn't see Derek avoiding eye contact with everyone.

Following his line of vision, his eyes came to a stop on Stiles, and suddenly his face cracked open like an egg that had been dropped on the ground.

"Why don't you just ask him out, Derek? He obviously likes you."

Scott stifled a laugh when Derek stumbled due to his elbow falling away from the countertop.

Derek straightened himself out, pulling at his shirt like a peacock whose feathers had been ruffled. "Don't be ridiculous, Scott- he doesn't like me and I don't like him."

"Right," the shorter of the two said. "That's why he shares his frozen yogurt with you and you stare at him like a fawn lost in the woods."

"He's reading a good book," Derek defended.

"You can't even _see _the title from here, Derek."

"Just go add more gummy worms to the bar, Watson."

_**xXxXxXx **_

"What is it today?"

This was the fifteenth day in a row that Stiles had popped Whittemore's White Chocolate Frozen Yogurt Shop, and it was growing harder and harder for Derek to deny the fact that he liked Stiles.

Stiles grinned at him and got a spoonful ready. "Blueberry and pretzel _M&Ms_."

Derek watched as Stiles took a rather large bite of his yogurt, and had to fight his smile when Stiles' face screwed up in obvious distaste.

"Not good?"

"Well, I wouldn't say it's completely horrendous." Stiles lied. He waved a spoonful in Derek's direction, and even though he knew it was going to be absolutely disgusting, he took it anyways. If just to please his regular.

Derek could tell at once why Stiles didn't like it- the combination of tart blueberry-flavored yogurt mixed with the slightly buttery taste of pretzel in the chocolate capsule was awful. There were too many bitter tastes in one area to enjoy it a little.

When managing to choke down the mouthful, Derek and Stiles made disgusted faces and each other and Derek groped around for his water bottle. He offered it to Stiles, who took it gratefully.

"How about you go through and get something you know you'll like? On me."

"You're the _best_." Stiles said through the water bottle.

_**xXxXxXx **_

Stiles and Derek, who were now considered friends to everyone including them, had taken it upon themselves to start naming Stiles' creations. It had started last week, the first being a combination of strawberry yogurt and _Butter Fingers _pieces, which Stiles named Finger Me Finely, and the most recent one being a combination of chocolate and vanilla with cherry sauce which Derek had named The Night Circus.

Today, Stiles had vanilla frozen yogurt with crushed mint _Oreos _and blue _M&Ms_, and they stood together off the to side, debating names.

"How about we name it Toy Soldiers?" Stiles asked with a grin, referring to the Sean Astin movie where his character had made an alcoholic drink out of vodka and peppermint flavoring to store in plain sight.

"No," Derek said- it didn't sound right rolling off of his tongue. "How about... Winter Wonderland?"

Stiles gave him a look. "Derek, this is a name for some frozen yogurt, not a hand sanitizer name at_ Bath & Body Works_."

Derek frowned. "Fine."

They pondered for a few more minutes, before Stiles decided on Corpse Bride.

"It's my favorite Tim Burton movie." Stiles justified, taking a bite and already scooping one up for Derek. "And besides, Victor's the cutest thing ever."

"Ten." Isaac called out, walking by to head into the back room.

"Shut up, Isaac." Derek called back.

"Ten?" Stiles asked around an _M&M_. "What?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Derek assured him. "It's not of importance."

He wasn't about to tell Stiles that Isaac was keeping count of all the reasons why Derek should ask Stiles out. Number ten being that he just called a guy cute, answering the question of whether Stiles was even remotely into males.

Stiles just raised an eyebrow as Derek took his spoon, but didn't press the subject.

_**xXxXxXx **_

"I think Isaac's right- you should just ask him out, Der."

Derek sighed and turned the page of his book; it was _This Boy's Life _by Tobias Wolff, the book that Stiles had been reading awhile back when Scott had caught him staring at the other from across the shop.

"He's not interested in me, Laura, I've been telling you that for a month now."

Laura sat down on his bed, and took to pillow out from under his feet. Flipping it over, she laid down against it and looked up at him.

"How do you know that? Did he flat out say that he didn't like you?"

Derek snickered slightly at the page where Jack talked about kissing Arthur sometimes at the piano and calling off the dog at his heels. "No, but I just assumed so."

Laura made a noise of frustration. "But you obviously like him, Derek."

"So?"

"_So_," her voice amplified as Laura rose it, trying and failing to get her brother's attention and be serious about it. "You haven't even tried since that bitch Kate broke up with you."

This got Derek's attention, and looking up at his sister, the wounded part of his feelings that he had been pushing down more and more since he could remember started to become unlidded.

"Laura..."

She sighed and sat back up, taking his hand and squeezing it. "I just want you to be happy, Derek. And hardly anyone's made you smile before you met Stiles. He might be good for you."

Smiling softly at him, Laura let go of his hand and left his room without another word.

_**xXxXxXx **_

The next day was Derek's day off, but he came into work, anyways. He knew that it was only to see Stiles, but when Scott asked him with surprise why he was there, Derek blushed and said he wanted to catch up on his studying.

"He just wanted to come in and see his boyfriend." Isaac told him, kissing Scott's temple.

"He's not my boyfriend," Derek insisted, but Isaac and Scott were too busy giggling at each other like school children to listen to him. Sighing with fondness and irritation, Derek walked away from them to go through the line.

He ended up with Neapolitan frozen yogurt and sour gummy worms littered over the top, and leaning against the counter, he awaited for Stiles to arrive so that they both wouldn't buy a cup to share.

He waved at the other boy when he entered the shop with the bell dinging, and Stiles grinned at him before moving closer.

"Hey," he greeted. "Why aren't you at the register?"

"I've got the day off." Derek said at the same time Isaac said "He wanted to see your pretty face." but Stiles seemed not to hear the working college kid.

"Let's go sit down." Derek said, and pulling Stiles along off towards a booth, he shot a look back at a smirking Isaac and an amused Scott, who was next to him.

"So, what did you get today?" Stiles asked him. It sounded weird coming out of his mouth when it was always Derek who said this to him.

"Neapolitan with sour gummy worms."

Stiles smiled widely. "That sounds like a train wreck. Let's try it."

Derek smiled back and together they each took a bite of Derek's concoction. It was different, they decided; the richness of the chocolate and the sweetness of the vanilla and strawberry contrasted with the sour of the gummy worms in a good way. It was tangy but succulent and Derek liked it better than anything they'd made together.

"Mmm, that's so good," Stiles mirrored his thoughts exactly. "I mean, you'd think it'd taste horrible but that's not half bad."

Derek nodded in agreement. "What are we going to call it?"

Stiles took another bite and rolled it around over his tongue in thought. Derek was absolutely entranced by the sight, and though he knew that he should, he couldn't pry his eyes away from the pout of his lips and the shine his tongue left behind when darting out to lick up any leftover yogurt.

Derek looked away, finally, after a moment, but it was fruitless because immediately they locked eyes, and Derek knew that he had been caught. He blushed, opening his mouth to spit out any excuse that he could think of, but he saw Stiles smirk at him, and lean forwards.

And then suddenly they were kissing; well, really Stiles was kissing Derek and Derek was sitting forwards, eyes staring at the face of Stiles' eyelids as the younger pull him as close as he could get with a table in between them. Derek gasped when Stiles' tongue poked out between his lips to trace over his own, a string of coldness left behind in a trail, and he hardly knew what he was doing when he opened his mouth and let Stiles in.

He was incredibly aware that people were probably staring, and somewhere far away he could hear Scott, Isaac and Laura cheering wildly and Isaac shouting 'Get some!' out into the shop. But Stiles' warmth and the taste of frozen yogurt and salty gummy worms invading his taste buds was enough to block everyone else out. For the most part, anyways.

When Stiles eventually pulled away, his golden eyes swallowed whole by his pupils but a look of mischief still glowing in them, he grinned. Derek wiped away a stray droplet of yogurt from the corner of his mouth.

"I know what we can call it."

_**xXxXxXx**_

Laura had decided to hire Stiles, who was now an expert at everything to do with their frozen yogurt, and when Derek found out he all but broke Laura in half with his enthusiasm.

They had made a list of all of the yogurt-and-toppings combinations they'd come up with over the two month period and their names, and on a Saturday had copied it onto a poster. It now hung above the frozen yogurt machines, and their customers got a kick out of reading over the names and trying them out.

At the very bottom of the list, the recipe including Neapolitan frozen yogurt and sour gummy worms, was a combination called Sour Wolf.

"Because you look like a wolf." Stiles said, and he looked so ridiculously beautiful wearing an apron with his hair waving all over the place that Derek just had to kiss him.

"_Ahoooo_." Isaac called from the back room.

_**A/N: ...I really have nothing to say other than I tried xD I hope that wasn't too awful. Thanks for reading ^_^**_


End file.
